BANGKOK: By neutralizing COVID-19 when it enters the nose, Thai scientists are creating an antiviral nasal spray.
The spray is presently in the development stage of study.
The antibody utilized in the prototype was discovered by the Faculty of Medicine at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, which collaborated with the public and private sectors to develop it.
Assistant Professor Dr Nakarin Sirisabya from the Faculty of Medicine said, “We conducted study and identified antibodies, which are the immunity developed by the human body to stop COVID-19.”
Unlike COVID-19 vaccines, one antibody was selected and engineered to act outside the body in an area it is applied, he said, unlike those vaccines.
Because of this, scientists assume that COVID-19 enters the respiratory system through the nose, and the antibody-based spray prevents it from doing so.
Additionally, the Government Pharmaceutical Organization, the Health Systems Research Institute, Silpakorn University and private enterprise Hibiocy Co. Ltd. are all members of the alliance.
The National Cancer Institute plans to begin testing the spray soon.
Thailand’s Food and Drug Administration is required to give the go-ahead for the manufacturing process once clinical trials have been finished.
The anti-COVID-19 nasal spray is slated to go on sale in the third quarter of this year, according to the Government Pharmaceutical Organization, which is also in charge of production.
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Other COVID-19 preventative methods, such as vaccination, social withdrawal, and the use of facial masks, can be supplemented with the antiviral nasal spray.
Antigen-based spray, in contrast to the COVID-19 vaccine, does not penetrate the body or remain active for an extended period of time on the skin, according to him.
The coronavirus that enters the nose is neutralized or weakened by the material, which latches on to it and prevents it from causing infection inside the body.
Dr Sirisabya says it might be used when there is a risk of infection, such as at a social event where masks are removed, but no specific dosage information has been released just yet.
When COVID-19 measures were eased, the anti-viral nasal spray might play a vital role in keeping the virus at a distance.
Before clinical trials, preliminary laboratory studies showed that the spray was effective against numerous COVID-19 types, including Delta and Omicron.
They all want the nasal spray to be affordable and accessible to people in Thailand, especially those who are most at risk, Dr Sirisabya says.
Nevertheless, he insisted that all of the COVID-19 prevention methods were equally necessary and that the anti-viral nasal spray was merely “an extra protection step” that would assist Thai citizens stay safe from the virus.
